Château Lafon Rochet - Saint-Estèphe 1996

Wine Advocate

90 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe4/30/1999

One of the sleepers of the 1996 vintage, Lafon-Rochet has turned out an atypically powerful, rich, and concentrated wine bursting with black currant fruit. The opaque purple color gives way to a medium to full-bodied, tannic, backward wine with terrific purity, a sweet, concentrated mid-palate, and a long, blockbuster finish. This wine remains one of the finest values from the luxury-priced 1996 vintage, and is well-worth purchasing by readers who are willing to invest 5-6 years of patience; it should keep for two decades. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2020.

Wine Spectator

90 / 100

byJames Sucklingthe1/31/1999

Dark-colored, with floral, spice and dark-fruit character; the mineral and spice flavors follow through on the palate. Medium- to full-bodied, with silky tannins and a caressing texture. A refined and balanced Lafon-Rochet. Best after 2001.

Wine Advocate

87-90 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe2/28/1998

Dense ruby/purple-colored, this big, burly, masculine wine exhibits hard tannin, but also intense concentration of fruit. It was tasting more monolithic and tougher-textured than it had last spring, but there is no doubting that it is a highly extracted, rich, layered wine with considerable potential. Patience will be essential. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2020. The Tesseron family, who have done so much to propel Pontet-Canet into the limelight, continue to upgrade the quality of Lafon-Rochet. The above effort is a tannic, backward wine that will require patience.

Wine Advocate

90-91 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe4/30/1997

Readers should jump on this estate's bandwagon. The 1994 Lafon-Rochet was promising; the 1995 was one of the most unheralded great wines of the vintage; and the 1996, while not quite as sweet and rich as the 1995, is an outstanding wine with 25-30 years of aging potential. We can thank proprietor Alfred Tesseron (also the owner of Pontet-Canet) for turning around the fortunes of Lafon-Rochet. The 1996 exhibits a black/purple color, and a tight but intriguing nose of Asian spices, licorice, minerals, and jammy black-raspberries and cassis. There is a sweet entry, but the wine is extremely tannic, powerful, and in need of at least a decade of cellaring. It is a muscular, almost over-bearing style of wine with terrific purity, and, for its size, remarkable equilibrium. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2025. A sleeper.